PUSHKIN AND THE QUEEN OF SPADES

It’s hard to imagine a better match of novel and narration than this sparkling, dynamic audio exploration of race, motherhood, literature, and identity. Pitts throws herself into this performance, and her energy, wit, and sass seem wholly in sync with a novel of astounding sophistication, insight, and surprise. Windsor Armstrong is a Harvard-educated African-American, a headstrong Russian literature scholar who is forced to reexamine a lifetime of hard-earned conviction when her son, a professional football superstar named Pushkin X, after her most beloved writer, announces his engagement to a Russian lap dancer. The originality of Randall’s novel and her confidence are breathtaking. But no less so is Pitts’s unstinting, head-long reading. M.O. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 05]